Case Study

ICT for Voter Registration

How can a mobile voter registration system help foster inclusive elections in a transitioning democracy?

Inclusive elections are one of the most basic tenets of legitimate democracies. But in the fragile new democracy of Libya, ensuring election outcomes truly represented the nation’s diverse populations and needs was a steep challenge. In advance of the national election that would choose 60 representatives to draft a new constitution, the Libyan government gave its High National Elections Commission (HNEC) the mandate to use mobile technology and other tools to advance widespread voter registration and electoral participation.

HNEC, in partnership with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya and the International Organization for Migration, engaged Reboot to design and deploy a platform and tools to support an inclusive election. Through this collaboration, the world’s first mobile-based registration system was deployed in December 2013. The system facilitated voter registration for more than 1.1 million citizens from within Libya and from diaspora in 13 countries, and is in continued use today.

Project Dates

August 2013 to March 2014

Partners

United Nations Support Mission in Libya, International Organization for Migration, Caktus Group, Praekelt Foundation

Services Provided

Implementation, Service Design, Tech Development

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Topics

After a popular revolution in 2011 ended four decades of autocratic rule in Libya, the overwhelming majority of Libyans supported the transition to democracy. But by mid-2013, confidence in the country’s new democratic process was evaporating rapidly, and growing violence marked by political assassinations, kidnappings, and ongoing clashes between militias and security forces further undermined attempts to form a new Libya.

Elections were scheduled to elect a Constitutional Assembly, a 60-member body to draft a new constitution. Ensuring the election was legitimate required broad representation from across Libya’s expansive geography and its diverse ethnicities and tribes. Given the country’s mobile phone penetration, the government sought to guarantee that every citizen could register to vote via text message (SMS), and the mandate fell to HNEC to ensure adequate platforms and tools to facilitate an inclusive election. Additionally, with an estimated 800,000 citizens living abroad—many of whom had emigrated under Muammar Gaddafi but now sought to participate in Libya’s new democracy—HNEC sought to enable the diaspora’s participation as well.

Working in partnership with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya and the International Organization for Migration, HNEC engaged Reboot to design and deploy an enterprise-scale electronic data management system to meet the challenge. Reboot then brought in a team of expert consultants, including development firm Caktus, to build the technical components supporting the initial system. The system needed to register voters both in-person and out-of-country via SMS and online. Wide variations in the level of sophistication in the local telecommunications infrastructure and a lack of local technical resources called for creativity on our part as we developed an appropriate, resilient solution. To support the system’s successful implementation and future sustainability, Reboot was also asked to provide maintenance and administration support through the election cycle and to train government officials in the system’s ongoing use.

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Our approach was foremost guided by deep immersion and adaptation. We spent seven months in-country, even through periods of conflict, allowing us to remain responsive to Libya’s dynamic political situation and operational constraints while meeting highly aggressive and consistently changing timelines.

Select services for this project included:

Global Project Management

The size of the project required a large and highly specialized team; we assembled and managed a consortium of 14 subcontractors working from three continents. The team included three leading technology firms, six supporting partners, and technologists from Obama for America and Google. Additionally, our on-site team in Tripoli worked with a network of risk management firms, legal advisors, and logistics service providers, overcoming severe security and operational constraints and delivering timely and high-quality product results.

Technology Design & Development

We built the entire system from the ground up, managing tight development cycles through continuous design research, rapid prototyping, and ongoing user testing and product iteration. The process helped us identify and respond to unmet needs in the elections administration process, including the need for data analytics and field office management tools. We also facilitated integration of the voter registration platform with other government data platforms, including the national identification system and Libya’s mobile network operators. Continuous end-to-end testing ensured system and infrastructure resilience, while robust information security policies for data hosting and storage, system access, and data access detected suspicious registration behavior and prevented external compromise of the system.

Implementation Support & Sustainability Planning

We provided 24/7 technical support through the election cycle, actively managed a live knowledge base, and contributed strategic guidance to senior HNEC leadership as they managed and refined deployment plans through the electoral process. After the election, we advised on the recruitment and training of technical specialists to administer the new system and ensure its sustainability after our departure. The training was enhanced through succession planning and comprehensive technical documentation, including user guides developed for new and future election administrators.

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As a result of our work, the world’s first mobile-based voter registration system was deployed in December 2013 in support of Libya’s Constitutional Assembly Elections in 2014. Comprising a suite of 11 integrated mobile and web applications, the system facilitated secure voter registration for more than 1.1 million citizens, representing both those in Libya and diaspora in 13 countries.

Our system had consistent and reliable system performance throughout the voter registration process, even during key periods of high volume activity. The system also enabled field coordination and data management across 2,600 field offices—our dashboard and custom real-time analytics support services gave government stakeholders the necessary data to make informed, timely decisions. Further, through the process, we demonstrated the value of open source technology and successfully advocated for HNEC to open source all project code and publicly release key datasets to support broader analyses and understanding of Libya’s democratic transition process.

Today, our system continues to register citizens in the national electoral register and support preparations for the next general election, currently anticipated for autumn 2014.